Writing

Of course I love to hear that people are reading and enjoying my blog.  Who wouldn't?  I've gotten quite a few compliments on it, and I truly, truly thank you.  Please keep coming back.

A few people have said to me, "wow, you are really a good writer!".

Hmmm...

This is such a weird comment to me.  I don't think I've ever heard it before in my life directed at me.  I really didn't enjoy English class in school, interpreting poetry or classic literature was the WORST, and I got a stomach ache every time I had to walk into my freshman comp class at UMD. 

Let's talk about freshman comp for a minute, shall we?  Here's how the class went for me.  First, pick a topic.  Research the topic and write a paper on it.  Turn it in, get a bad grade.  Next, take your paper and edit it to follow proper paragraph structure with topic, supporting, and conclusion sentences.  Turn it in, get a bad grade.  Get paper back again, edit it again some other way that made no sense.  (Really?  The facts are the facts and they can't really be edited any further without changing the subject of the paper.)  Turn it in, get a bad grade.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Seriously that was the longest quarter of my life.  I was so sick and tired of staring at the very words that I wrote, that they started to not make any sense to me anymore.

Writing was not fun for me.  I did not get very good grades in English classes.  It was hard for me to research a topic and mix all the facts up and spit them back out in my own words, without plagerizing.  And I always had such a hard time choosing topics.  I guess I still do, but that's why I take pictures when doing the things I do - so I have something to write about.  There is only so much rambling on I can do about my kids before you all would get bored to death and never come back.  I probably still ramble a little too much about them, but pictures probably make it a little more interesting, right?

I've never considered myself a writer, because writers write books, and songs, and movies, and newspapers,

And...

Blogs.

Hmm.  Interesting.  :)

I think the thing I like best about writing in my blog is the informality and the lack of rules set by someone else that I would have to follow.  I like to write what is on my mind, and as it would come out of my mouth if I were to be talking to you.  I don't want to have to worry about beginning a sentence with the word "and", or if I end a sentence with a preposition.  And Lord knows I don't want to be graded on it anymore.

Now, I feel like I should start this last paragraph with "In conclusion..."  BUT I'M NOT GOING TO because I don't have to.  Thank you for reading my blog.  Really.  A lot.  I wish there was a way for me to figure out who you all are, but there isn't unless you comment.  I do know that I've had readers from Canada, The UK, India, Russia, Latvia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Guatemala, Australia, and Norway, in addition to all my homies here in the US!  How cool is that?!?  I'd love it if you gave a shout out in the comments to let me know who you all are!  And please, please keep coming back.

From, a person who puts words on a blog, but isn't really a writer.

XOXOX

NH